Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Gregory Kucich, Professor of English, to the position of Director of Notre Dame's London Undergraduate Program, housed in the University's London Centre (1 Suffolk Street, London SW1).  He will assume this position on July 1, 2008.  

Professor Kucich succeeds Prof. Paul Bradshaw (Theology) who has served as Director since 1995.  Prof. Kucich's multi-faceted experience as a teacher-scholar-administrator in the Department of English at the University of Notre Dame since 1983 puts him in an excellent position for taking on this challenging role. He teaches British literature and frequently lectures and conducts research in the United Kingdom.  As author and editor of books on Austen, Shelley and Keats, and an innovative collection of essays on British Romanticism's place in Global Studies, Kucich brings scholarly expertise consonant with student interest and the university's aspirations for the London Undergraduate Program.  He has proven abilities as a faculty teacher in the London Undergraduate Program (1998, 2005) and as organizer of an international conference held in the London Centre (2003).  An experienced administrator, he has served as Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Chair, and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of English.  In addition, he has served since 1994 as co-editor of the UK-based scholarly journal Nineteenth-Century Contexts.   Some of Prof. Kucich’s goals and priorities for the program include: 1) Bolster collaboration between the London Undergraduate Program and the home campus; 2) Enhance teaching through a comprehensive orientation program designed to familiarize British faculty with the standards and procedures of undergraduate teaching at Notre Dame; 3) Build upon the success of the current Internship Program, by facilitating broader types of encounters with London’s cosmopolitan world that suit the aspirations and challenges of study abroad programs in this age of globalization; and 4) Expand the research potential of the London Centre in strategic ways that attend to the undergraduate experience while also boosting Notre Dame’s international reputation.

We in the Office of International Studies were fortunate to benefit from an excellent applicant pool for this position; the high level of faculty engagement with international study augures well for the future.  Please join us in congratulating Prof. Kucich for his appointment to this important position. 

Sincerely,
Julia Douthwaite